Voice

There are references in some Shakespeare's plays to the vocal exercising of an actor before performance and the importance of enunciation and volume. In ancient Greek times, it was the greatest orators, those with the physical gift of a beautiful voice and a strong diaphragm, that were the actors and public speakers. Vocal exercises are part of an actor’s working life. There are many types of vocal exercises, and each addresses a different part of the vocal mechanism. You can look at each component as a cog in a machine that, when put together, will aid understandable and natural sounding speech that can easily be heard at the back of an auditorium. This collection takes you through a warm up and a series of exercises typical for actors in rehearsal at the National Theatre.

National Theatre: Vocal Warm-Up

This short vocal warm-up led by Jeannette Nelson offers actors techniques to prepare their voice ahead of rehearsals and performances, featuring exercises on breathing, resonance, projection and articulation.

02-27
11:19

Text work on vowels in ‘O what a noble mind…’

Voice work on Ophelia’s speech.

04-28
06:02

Text work on consonants in ‘To be, or not to be…’

Voice work on Hamlet’s speech.

04-28
09:42

Vocal exploration of the Olivier

A vocal exploration of the Olivier theatre

04-28
08:55

Text work on prose from Saint Joan

Embodying prose from Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan

03-29
08:44

Text work on blank verse from Much Ado About Nothing

Deconstructing the Friar’s speech in Much Ado About Nothing

03-29
08:02

Vocal warm-up: Articulation

Focusing on clear articulation

03-29
04:24

Vocal warm-up: Opening up the voice

Stretching exercises to open up the actors’ voice

03-29
02:59

Vocal warm-up: Resonance

Warm-up exercises to work on the voice’s resonance

03-29
03:29

Vocal warm-up: Breathing

Starting the vocal warm-up with breathing exercises

03-29
06:50

Vocal exploration of the Lyttelton

A vocal exploration of the Lyttelton theatre

03-29
03:15

Vocal exploration of the Cottesloe

A vocal exploration of the Cottesloe theatre

03-29
06:19

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